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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



cake or meal by breeding stock. Now he (Mr. Little) was 

 not a grazier, and never had been to any great extent ; but he 

 had reared young stock from time to time ou inferior pasture 

 lands, and had found that by the use of oilcake and other 

 artificial fcod the land had been improved ia quality, and had 

 enabled him to increase the quantity of stock by nearly one- 

 half. He thought, therefore, it was as well to adopt an arti- 

 cial mode of feediug, and thus increase tlie number of animals, 

 which as they became older got iato the hands of the grazier- 

 This practice has been carried out, not only upon his own 

 farm, but on others, and he thought that the inferior pastures 

 of the country might be greatly improved by means of artifi- 

 cial manures in other counties as well as Cheshire. In that 

 county pastures had been brought from very poor into very 

 high condition by the application of bones. As Mr. Wailis 

 had told them, enormous sums of money were expended in 

 artificial manures on arable lands where a quick and imme- 

 diate return could be made ; but he agreed with him that the 

 use of artificial manures on pasture land was quite as profit- 

 able as on arable, when time was given for their development. 

 One instance which he might cite was that at Wall's Court, 

 in the neighbourhood of Bristol, which had been held by 

 Mr. Procter. He (Mr. Little) was engaged to survey 

 the property for that gentleman when he took it of the 

 Duke of Beaufort, and observed that together with improved 

 drainage a large quantity of artificial manure was used, and 

 the result was surprising. Perhaps there was no pasture-land 

 in England upon which so great a change had been wrought as 

 upon that particular farm, the means resorted to having been 

 draining and the use of bones especially ia a prepared state. 

 Other parties in that neighbourhood had adopted the same 

 course, and great improvement had been effected in the pas- 

 tures, and a great increase of the stock kept thereon. This 

 related more to the old pastures ; but there were also many 

 new pastures upon which he believed the system wculd be 

 found equally effective. On all drained pasture lands an in- 

 crease of manure was required to supply the wants of the 

 plants, to give them food and increase the quantity ; but that 

 was generally ovelooked,a3 had been remarked by Mr. Wailis. 

 Mr. Procter's system was, after draining, to add artificial ma- 

 nures, and to feed his beasts with large quantities of cake, 

 and he (Mr. Little) was certain that there was no one who 

 had seen that geutleman's land but would approve of the 

 system. The pastures of this furm were of the very poorest 

 description, but were so much improved by Mr. Proctor, that 

 on relinquishing it (which from ill health he was compelled to 

 do), it was taken by Mr. K. Stratton, aad the Broad Hinton 

 herd of Shorthorns are now grazing there. 



Mr. T, CoNGREVE (Rugby) said that he differed from 

 Mr. Wailis, when that gentlemau stated that he did not 

 e commend the use of cake for store animals. He was of 

 opinion that cake was as valuable for store as for feeding 

 animals, every bit (Hear, hear). In fact, the principal use 

 which he himself and his friend? the graziers made of cake, was 

 to give it to the former in the straw yard. Instead of giving 

 them hay, turnips, and so forth, which was wanted for 

 the more forward stock and sheep, he gave them three, four, 

 or five pounds of cake in the straw yard, and it answered as 

 well in that way aa in any other. 



Mr. Wallis : You quite misunderstood me. 



Mr. CoNGRTiVE: Well, that was one principal use of cake. 

 It improved the manure, and kept the store cattle iu a going- 

 on state, ready for the application of the system which Mr. 

 Wailis had recommended, and ia which he entirely agreed with 

 him. He believed the time would come when farmers would 

 be obliged to use their store pastures as feeding pastures. He 



knew several gentlemen in his own neighbourhood, who 

 did so already. They put a bullock upon two acres, gave him 

 4 lbs. of cake upoa the store land, and sent him to market in 

 July ; whereas tho.se who were upon the good laud, did not go 

 until September. 



The Chairman: Do they drain grass land in yourneigh- 

 bourhood? 



Mr. CoNGREVE : Yes; it was principally draiued, and 

 some perhaps a little too much so. There was no doubt that 

 ploughed land could not be drained too much, but that pas- 

 ture land could ; indeed, he knew some drained land which 

 could not maintain the same quantity of beasta that it did 

 when it was undrained (Hear, hear). 



Mr. W. Shaw (Northampton) said his friend Mr. O.W.allis 

 had had so much experience in the use of cake in feeding 

 cattle, both on plough and grass land, that he was quite sure 

 any one would have great difficulty in questioning anything he 

 had laid down. For his own part, having for years brought 

 out his early-fed cattle on grass with the assistance of cake, 

 the difficulty he had encountered in its use was this : for want 

 of shelter the cattle were frequently running about in mid-day 

 at the rate of ten miles an hour, when they ought to be 

 quietly resting under sheds or in yards. It mattered not, 

 therefore, what they were given until they were provided with 

 good hovels, for a hovel was of as much value in summer as in 

 winter (Hear, hear) ; and unless the large grazing fields were 

 reduced in proportion to the quality of the land, he did not 

 think they would ever realize the full value of the animals. 

 It was wholly different to arable land, where the fields could 

 not be laid too open ; but in grazing he was not an advocate 

 for too many beasts lying together. He believed it was of little 

 or no use to try to feed beasts as they ought to be fed, and not 

 go to market half-fat, until the grass land was brought to its 

 full value by subdividing it and providing hovels. He had 

 gone fully into the use of cake on grass lands, and he had 

 found it to be absolutely necessary to have hovels and sheds, 

 so as to completely develope the results of hay and cake. Mr. 

 Congreve had reminded him that he might also touch upou 

 the large amount of money they were expending on grass land 

 in proportion to the return, and that leases would conduce 

 materially to success. He was bound to say, however, that in 

 Northamptonshire they occupied land which descended from 

 father to son; he coull not, therefore, so far as that county 

 was concerned, see that leases would be of the same value as 

 in other parts of the country. If a good sound tenant-right, 

 as was evidenced by the practice in Lincolnshire, was generally 

 established, it would assist in drawing out the resources of 

 grass laud as well as plough ; but he did not think that the 

 system of holding laud was any barrier to their using cake in 

 summer for feeding their cattle with. 



Mr. Ramsay (Newcastle-on-Tyne), after speaking in terms 

 of commendation of the paper read by Mr. Wailis, alluded to 

 the subject of draining grass lands, of which there were few 

 who did not approve, although perhaps it might not be appli- 

 cable to all descriptions of soil (Hear, hear). Drainage, he 

 observed, would never have come into play but for the great 

 and growing demand for food for the people. He then discussed 

 at some length the question of supply and demand, and said 

 that the point at issue was, not exactly whether a few pounds 

 of cake more or less should be used, but whether they were 

 deriving a fair rate of profit from the large amount of capital 

 which was embarked in agriculture. Prices were of course 

 depreciated at times, and there was no branch of trade or 

 commerce that did not experience vicissitudes. They could 

 not lay down any rules by which meat should be 8d. or 9d. 

 per lb., which indeed was far too high a price for the work- 



